12.19.2007

New Features: Experts Exchange released several new features last week.

• The Question Wizard on the Premium Skin shows some statistics about the Core zone when you ask a question from within a zone.
• Two new buttons show up in questions. For askers, there is a Delete Question button that posts a request in the Community Support zone. For everyone, there is a Report Abuse button, which allows you to let the Moderators know about any problems in a question.
• There's a new Help page.

Five new Zones keep you in the know: According to your requests, Experts Exchange has added five new Zones to keep you on the cutting edge of technology. Take a moment to ask your burning question or share your expertise in the new VirtualPC, Bootcamp, Virtual Server 2005, Oracle 11.x or Parallels Zones. Thanks pghzooit, jinesh_kamdar, Eufnoc, and wingnut691983 for helping us stay ahead of the curve with our Zone offerings via all their requests in the New Topics Zone.

The increase in requests to the New Topics Zone suggests that the community is catching on to the fact that Experts Exchange adds Zones based on your requests to the New Topics Zone or to feedback@experts-exchange.com.

New Geniuses: Three Experts have gone over the 1,000,000 point level in their zones in the last couple of weeks, led by war1, whose certificate in Microsoft Software is his sixth Genius certificate -- the most by any EE member. Joining him on the list were jerryb30, who became the 26th Genius in Microsoft Access; and sammy1971, whose Genius certificate is the fifth in ASP.NET.

New Zone Advisor: multithreading is the new Zone Advisor for the processor programming zones. Welcome aboard!

Milestones: Going over the 7 million point mark overall were TechSoEasy, CEHJ, and ozo.

Kudos: Buck_Beasom posted a note in the Community Advisor zone, worrying about his subscription: "I bought a 6 month membership to EE. It is the best money I ever spent! The site is indispensable to my programming efforts and I don't want there to be a lapse in my membership."

Correction: Last week, we slipped up and put TechSoEasy's name where aneeshattingal's should have been in noting that the latter had reached 4,000,000 points in the Microsoft SQL zone.

Every year directors, actors and writers vie for Oscars, athletes compete for ESPYs, television shows contend for Emmys, and musicians battle for Grammys. Most people can appreciate an appearance by their favorite celebrity or artist, but when it comes down to it, it's unlikely that a character, touchdown pass, or chorus has had an impact on you. The Annual Expert Awards, on the contrary, reward the Experts who have had major impacts on the technological life of members like you.

The coming 4th Annual Expert Awards are worth your thoughts and attention because the Experts who solve your problems are motivated by something you can give them at no monetary cost to yourself; your recognition. You know how great it feels when your boss acknowledges all the hard work that you put in designing and developing your company's new database. You know how appreciated you feel when your spouse of 10 years thanks you for something as minute as sorting the clean socks. It feels great! It's that feeling that inspires Experts to spend hours toiling over problems that are not their own. You have the power to make people feel that way!

The 4th Annual Expert Awards are coming in 2008! Let's prepare our best tips of the hat, head nods and "thank you's" so that we can inspire Experts to add another 2,000,000 solutions to the world's best technology resource.

One thing we've learned over the years is to not take ourselves too seriously. We do, however, take the work done by the various onsite personnel very seriously. Generally speaking, the Moderators are a fairly modest group; they are all Experts who have foregone the competitive aspects of Experts Exchange in order to try to keep things moving along; for most of them, their Expert identities are, while not entirely secret, relatively unknown to the vast majority of the membership, and for the most part, they like it that way.

However, the Zone Advisors are not. They have significant duties that often times force them to maintain some objectivity about a subject for which they have significant passion -- not an easy task under any circumstances. It is with the utmost gratitude and regard that we offer the following revision to Clement Clark Moore's Twas The Night Before Christmas.

Since the last newsletter, 17 new establishments have increased productivity among their IT divisions with Corporate Accounts. Please join us in welcoming...

From Canadian law firms to Australian research organizations to American steel manufacturers and community colleges, Corporate Accounts can save time and money for any enterprise. Like Premium Service Memberships, Corporate Accounts offer unrestricted access to our knowledgebase of more than 2,000,000 solutions, and the ability to ask unlimited questions. In addition, Corporate Accounts offer simple license management and convenient corporate billing, all at a discounted rate.

Accelerate your IT department with a Corporate Account. Upgrades are available for current users.

3D Space Gaming Vest We can think of a few people we would like to be wearing this during an extra-energetic game of Halo 3. In camouflage or black, perfect for sneaking up on... huh? 129 Euros.

USB Desk Vacuum We had a boss once who complained about the crumbs on employees' desks, saying they would attract bugs and mice. One wonders if she would have popped for 150 of these. About 13 Euros.

The Simpsons Game The reviews say that the controls aren't all that great, but the accuracy and humor are outstanding. Imagine eating donuts with the vest. 27-40 Euros, depending on the platform.

An editor by trade, a writer by avocation and an Expert by happenstance, ericpete puts together the newsletter for Experts Exchange.

Last week, the people at Rogers, Canada's largest provider of broadband Internet access, began experimenting with a system that inserts a Rogers-Yahoo message at the top of a web page when it loads.

The message tells the user how much of his monthly broadband access he has used. To be fair, Rogers' bandwidth limits are pretty large (60GB per month for their low-end service, which, they say, is about the average consumption for a year), but that's not the real issue. We'll even admit that for the people who like downloading lots of videos and music files, or use VoIP, it's probably a good thing to know that you've used 90 per cent of your allowed capacity ahead of time, rather than finding out when you get your bill.

But coming on the heels of concerns over Comcast's interference with file sharing, Verizon's redirecting to a co-branded Yahoo search page, and the well-documented allegations of AT&T's cooperation in domestic spying on US citizens, it's one more crack in the wall, one more piece of evidence that somewhere, someone is watching you. And then there's the sneakiness pulled by the people in Redmond, who first offered a free copy of Vista in exchange for letting Microsoft track your every move for three months -- and then yanking the "free Vista" offer off the table.

Or is it?

Maybe, just maybe, we're all giving governments more credit than they deserve. We were talking with a friend a couple of weeks ago, as we were preparing for the always-unpleasant journey through two airports' security systems, that running for President on the platform of cleaning up the mess the TSA causes in terminals would probably ensure not only a huge influx of campaign contributions but strong support in voting booths. We have watched, in stunned silence, as a middle-aged, slightly overweight, short-haired blonde woman in a wheelchair, with easily visible scars on both knees and a cast on her foot, got patted down, offering more action than the first three minutes of the average adult entertainment film.

Look at all the data Ma Bell -- oops... we meant AT&T -- turned over to the NSA. All those phone calls from politicians, who are exempt from the Do Not Call Registry. All of those emails from Nigerian generals. All of those style sheets and 800 byte images. Remember, this is the same organization that has a single agency whose mission is to catch bad guys that has something like 18 databases that aren't mutually compatible. The amount of data they would have to sift through is mind-boggling, and there are people who still don't know where the Any key is. Is there any reason to think they could really do a good job of finding someone who wanted to stay hidden?

What's dangerous about all this is not so much that they're collecting information; it's that they might actually decide to use it. Means, motive and opportunity is all it takes; given that means and opportunity already exist, it isn't a stretch to say that paranoia isn't a powerful motive. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, Roosevelt said; he neglected mentioning fearing the people who are very much afraid as well.

Gamercize® PC-Sport™ We know all about jumping to conclusions, killing time, beating dead horses, running programs, and backing up data (right...), but actually exercising? About 139 Euros.

Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk Helicopter Perfect for that long commute. Digital maps, GPS, about 2,000 HP, self-diagnostics, and it doesn't run Vista. About 15.44 million Euros.

Invisibility Cloak This is not yet commercially available, but we still want one. Remember, it wasn't that long ago that computers took up whole rooms...

About a year ago, we asked in this space that members take a few minutes to go through their old questions. Experts Exchange has done their part in the last couple of weeks by giving members the tools -- the Delete Question button -- that will help the process along, but only if the people who ask questions do their part.

One thing we have been asked about recently is splits: when should an Asker split the points between two or more Experts? It's one heckuva good question to end the year on; if you ask a dozen Experts, they'll give you a dozen different answers. By way of a preface, you should know that the Moderators are very reluctant to overrule an Asker's selection; let's just say that after cleaning over a million abandoned questions over the years, we're extremely appreciative for anyone who lightens the load by closing the question.

Splits should be given when two or more Experts contribute to your solution. That doesn't mean they should get points for trying (and not succeeding). The best example would be if two Experts help you fix some code because one is in New York and the other in Sydney -- so they're working at opposite ends of the clock. Another would be if they bounce ideas off each other, and tinker, so that the end result is a mixture of both. Yet another example is when two Experts come up with two completely different solutions, both of which work equally well.

A less-than-good reason to split the points is when two Experts post more or less the same solution at the same time. They all know that the first person should get the points, unless there is some other compelling reason to award the points to the second. For example, if ExpertA posts a description of how to do something, and ExpertB posts specific code, then it's the Asker's choice; there is no quarrel with accepting one, the other or both.

If you have doubts about what to do, just ask us for our thoughts. We can not only give you our own feelings, but can enlist the Zone Advisors for technical assistance as well.

Guitar Hero Admit it. Ever since the CSI television series came out, you need to feed your inner Pete Townsend doing Won't Get Fooled Again. About 55-100 Euros depending on platform.

Ugobe Pleo Robotic Dinosaur Cheaper than raising children, not as messy as a dog, and probably more attentive than most house cats. What's not to like? 240 Euros.

Zonbu Notebook It's not that it's cheap or fancy. It's that it uses mobile phone technology to keep you connected to your stuff. And it's not that expensive either. Starts at 190 Euros and a monthly fee.

And it takes one-third the time to type in the URL, too: There have been a few commercials on the tube for Ask.com lately, and it looks like it's actually a bit of a better mousetrap, even if doesn't get the ink that a few of its rivals in the search business do. Now, it's come up with an even better reason to use it: as of about a week ago, you can ask Ask to purge your searches and it will be done within a few hours. That contrasts with the 13-18 months the other major players in the search business keep the information.

Product of the week: A stupidity filter. Your emails, though welcome, will probably not get published if they get too specific.

Just a thought: it's hard to cheat on a marksmanship exam... but it apparently isn't very difficult to find the answers to questions for Army promotional examinations on publicly accessible websites.

There's no conflict with our interests: In case you haven't been paying attention to the mergers and acquisitions in the tech business, the world is aflutter over Google's bid to acquire DoubleClick, the advertising firm. The current dustup has to do with Deborah Majoras, a former partner at Day Jones, who is the head of the US Federal Trade Commission; Day Jones is one of the firms representing DoubleClick in front of the FTC. It gets better: Day Jones had a page on its website on which it said it was DoubleClick's mouthpiece, but removed it. Fortunately, it's cached by Google (or was Friday afternoon, anyway) in what is a delicious bit of serendipity. The FTC was supposed to decide on the merger last week, but got an extension; the European Union won't rule on it until April.

Sometimes, you should pay attention to kids: We have it on very good authority that a couple of Experts Exchange members looked into their schools' computer systems when they were in high school; one went so far as to tell the administration about some holes they never plugged, and about six months later a different student went in and did some real damage. Be that as it may, we suspect that there are a few people taking the latest incident at Monte Vista High School in Cupertino, CA, very seriously.

Two text messages a day, that's all we ask: The Chinese sent 429 billion text messages last year, which tells you why Google wants to get into the mobile business, considering 200,000 new accounts every day. Sorry, Mr. Dodd, but doing no evil is not quite the same as cutting one's nose off to spite one's face.

It's only a matter of time: We can see it now. 180 people on the LAX to SFO run, all using their Bluetooth devices to talk to someone they either just left at the office before heading to the airport or will be seeing at an office in the City in 45 minutes. Mark December 11 as the day that will live in infamy, because that was the day that JetBlue started offering limited email and texting services on its flights. Others plan to follow shortly.

Sooner or later, someone's going to track this stuff: Google's Zeitgeist, its annual review of popular searches, is out. Some fairly interesting tidbits include holiday shoppers going nuts trying to find a Nintendo Wii, and HD-DVD players still more popular than Blu-Ray. One can't help but wonder if the popularity of ratatouille recipes is because of the Disney-Pixar movie.

Not the best way to get the money for that new XBox: A man was arrested for possession of stolen property when the victim found his stolen GPS unit for sale on Craigslist.

There's something about that lime green color, though: The reviews are in on the XO computer sold by the One Laptop Per Child project, and they're actually not that bad. We're not sure how well they will go over in Silicon Valley, where it seems like every kid has a cell phone, an iPod and (no doubt) a Dell Inspirion, but given the market were designed for, it could work. Scary thought, though: Microsoft is close to having a version of Windows XP for it. The first service pack for it should show up just about the time the crank wears out.

Happy birthday, NSFNET and Mr. transistor.

Normally, you have to wait until after Christmas for discounts: First, a Canadian oil field worker who used his cell phone as a modem and downloaded "movies and high resolution images" had his C$84,000 bill reduced to $3,365 by Bell Mobility. Second, a California school district, which has been ducking paying a bill to IBM since 1989 and even got the state legislature involved in trying to convince the company to forgive the bill, reached an agreement to pay Big Blue the $5 million it owes -- over eight years at no interest.

Signs of the Apocalypse: Video tombstones, Penthouse Media buying social networking sites, Microsoft shutting down Santa Claus, college kids losing computer games to chimpanzees, and every IT technician's nightmare: a list of downloadable desktop "enhancements".

Euricase Digital Jewelry Case Yeah, you can pick up a ring with an 84 carat diamond set in a ring, but this makes it special. 140 Euros.

MTRON 64GB Solid State Drive MORE POWER! 120MB/s read, 90MB/s write, .1ms access time, and a 5-7ear warranty. About 1,360 Euros.

TOMY I-Sobot It's not that big -- only 6.5 inches tall, and runs on three rechargeable batteries. But it looks so cool, and it can probably pick up that pencil from across the desk. About 190 Euros.

Wow... that year went by fast. The good news is that all of the shopping is done, all of the cards have been sent, and the tree and the lights are all up. But if you're scrambling to find something, especially on eBay, you might want to check out a neat little site called eSnipe. If you've never bid for something on eBay, you don't know how annoying it is to lose out on something in the last few minutes of an auction; eSnipe can help. Of course, once everyone starts using it... Or you can just wait a while, because a recent ruling against eBay and its Buy It Now feature could make some aspects of eBay change a lot.

If you've been following this space for the last few months, you know I got a Toshiba laptop a few months back that came with Vista on it, and you know that the more I use it, the more I like using my desktop that has Windows XP on it. I saw something not that long ago that said that there is a service pack due out any minute now for Vista -- the first release candidate for it was made available last week -- but that the one that was originally scheduled for Windows XP (SP3) in 2006 isn't going to be out until "the first half of 2008." The good news is that MS at least has a Release Candidate for the service pack out now, so maybe we'll see it before summer after all. It's pretty frustrating that Microsoft is willing to annoy its customer base by not fixing its old product in order to get the customers to buy its new, less satisfactory product. Maybe someday someone will explain to me how this is good business.

In case you still haven't done any shopping, here is a collection of lists. Yes, Analog_Kid and I borrowed a few items for the Newsletter, because the Editor is a taskmaster, but there are still some good things you can choose from. Or you can just buy a virtual gift. Right. If my other half buys me a virtual gift, our real dog is going to have company...

Finally, it being the holiday season and all, and being from the Midwest originally, I was really happy to see the story about a businessman from Kansas City who goes around anonymously giving away $100 bills. It's nice to know that there's someone out there who gets it this time of year.